Kara Sears
Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. It works within copyright law, allowing creators to grant permission to everyone to use their work in certain ways. It offers a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights, with six different license types that allow reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon material so long as attribution is given to the creator. These licenses are now used on nearly two billion works online across nine million websites.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Creative Commons licenses allow copyright holders to retain the copyright to their works while giving the public permission to use those works under certain conditions. |
| History | The Creative Commons License (CCL) was designed in 2001 by Lawrence Lessig and Eric Eldred. |
| License Types | There are six different license types, including CC0, Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC), and Attribution-NoDerivatives (CC BY-ND). |
| Requirements | All CC licenses require attribution, unless the licensor has distributed the work anonymously or asked that the attribution be removed. |
| Fair Use | Fair use is part of all Creative Commons licenses and allows users to disregard other license terms, such as ShareAlike. |
| Legal Status | Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. CC licenses are based on copyright law and are enforceable in court. |
| Global Reach | CC licenses have been ported to over 50 jurisdictions worldwide and are available in multiple languages. |
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What You'll Learn
Creative Commons is not a law firm
Creative Commons is a global non-profit organisation that provides free legal tools to help people share and reuse creative works. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice or legal services.
Creative Commons offers a suite of six international copyright licenses that are drafted based on various international treaties governing copyright. These licenses are standardised tools that creators and other rights holders can use to offer certain usage rights to the public while reserving other rights. For example, a creator may allow the public to distribute, remix, and adapt their work, as long as they are credited.
Creative Commons also provides informational guidance about its licenses and tools, but this information may not apply to specific situations and should not be considered legal advice. If legal advice is required, users should contact a Creative Commons affiliate in their jurisdiction or a lawyer who specialises in CC-related matters.
Creative Commons maintains databases of legal decisions and legal scholarship pertaining to its licenses and tools. It also curates content from legal experts worldwide to help authors understand their rights and how to terminate publication agreements.
While Creative Commons is not a law firm, it plays a crucial role in facilitating the sharing and reuse of creative works by providing free legal tools and informational guidance.
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CC licenses work within copyright law
Creative Commons (CC) licenses work within copyright law, allowing copyright holders to retain their copyright while granting the public permission to use their work under certain conditions. CC licenses are not an alternative to copyright but are instead based on copyright law.
CC licenses give creators a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain). They offer a standardized way for creators to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. There are six different license types, from most to least permissive:
- CC BY: Reusers can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, as long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.
- CC BY-SA: Reusers can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, as long as they give attribution to the creator and share any adaptations under the same license. This license allows for commercial use.
- CC BY-ND: Reusers can distribute and remix the material in any medium or format, as long as they give attribution to the creator and do not make any adaptations or derivatives of the work. This license allows for commercial use.
- CC BY-NC: Reusers can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material for any non-commercial purpose, as long as attribution is given to the creator.
- CC BY-NC-SA: Reusers can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material for non-commercial purposes only, as long as they give attribution to the creator and share any adaptations under the same license.
- CC BY-NC-ND: Reusers can distribute and remix the material for non-commercial purposes only, as long as they give attribution to the creator and do not make any adaptations or derivatives of the work.
CC licenses are now used on nearly two billion works online across nine million websites. They increase access and give creators a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions and ensure proper attribution. CC licenses are also machine-readable, allowing CC-licensed works to be easily discovered via search engines.
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CC licenses are based on copyright law
Creative Commons (CC) licenses are based on copyright law. They are not an alternative to copyright, but rather, they build on traditional copyright law. The licenses allow copyright holders to retain their copyright while granting the public permission to use their work under certain conditions.
CC licenses were designed in 2001 by Lawrence Lessig and Eric Eldred. They were officially released on December 16, 2002, by Creative Commons, a U.S. non-profit corporation founded in 2001. The licenses emerged as a reaction to the decision in Eldred v. Ashcroft, in which the United States Supreme Court ruled constitutional provisions of the Copyright Term Extension Act that extended the copyright term of works to be the last living author's lifespan plus an additional 70 years. The original non-localized Creative Commons licenses were written with the U.S. legal system in mind, and as such, they may be incompatible with local legislation in other jurisdictions, rendering them unenforceable.
To address this issue, Creative Commons asked its affiliates to translate the licenses to reflect local laws in a process called "porting." As of July 2011, Creative Commons licenses have been ported to over 50 jurisdictions worldwide. Working with Creative Commons, the Chinese government adapted the Creative Commons License to the Chinese context, replacing the individual monetary compensation of U.S. copyright law with incentives for innovators to contribute to society.
CC licenses are standard and interoperable, allowing material published by different creators using the same type of CC license to be translated, modified, compiled, and remixed without legal barriers. They are also machine-readable, allowing CC-licensed works to be easily discovered via search engines. These features maximize the distribution, reuse, and impact of works published by governments and IGOs.
There are six different types of CC licenses, listed from most to least permissive:
- CC BY: This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, as long as attribution is given to the creator. It also allows for commercial use.
- CC BY-NC: This license allows people to use and adapt the work for any non-commercial purpose, as long as credit is given to the creator.
- CC BY-ND: This license allows people to use the work for any purpose (including commercial use), as long as they give credit to the creator and do not create adaptations or derivatives of the work.
- CC BY-SA: This license allows people to use and adapt the work for any purpose, as long as they give credit to the creator and share their adaptations under the same license.
- CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows people to use the work for non-commercial purposes only, and they must give credit to the creator without creating adaptations or derivatives of the work.
- CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows people to use and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes only, as long as they give credit to the creator and share their adaptations under the same license.
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CC licenses are standardized
Creative Commons (CC) licenses are standardized and interoperable, meaning material published by different creators using the same type of CC license can be translated, modified, compiled, and remixed without legal barriers. This standardization also allows CC-licensed works to be easily discovered via search engines such as Google, maximizing the distribution, reuse, and impact of works published by governments and IGOs.
CC licenses offer a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain). There are several types of Creative Commons licenses, each differing by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. The six licenses in most frequent use are CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, and CC BY-NC-ND. These licenses enable reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
CC BY grants an unrestricted license to use the respective content. How the content is used, e.g. in original or modified form, by whom or for what purpose, is irrelevant. According to section 3a of the legal code, the following obligations must be met: The author and other parties designated to receive attribution must be named in the manner requested by the licenser, as long as the requested form of attribution is reasonable.
CC BY-NC allows for noncommercial uses of the work only, while CC BY-ND does not permit derivatives or adaptations of the work. CC BY-NC-SA requires that adaptations must be shared under the same terms, and CC BY-NC-ND combines the restrictions of the previous two licenses, only permitting noncommercial uses of the work with no derivatives or adaptations allowed.
CC0, also known as CC Zero, is a public dedication tool that enables creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. This means that reusers can distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions. CC0 is a standardized declaration of a waiver of rights, allowing anyone to use the work without restrictions or obligations.
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CC licenses are machine-readable
Creative Commons (CC) licenses are indeed part of copyright law. They provide a standardised way for creators to grant the public permission to use their work under copyright law. CC licenses offer a spectrum of choices between retaining all rights and relinquishing all rights (public domain).
CC licenses are composed of three distinct layers: the legal code, the commons deed, and the machine-readable version. The machine-readable layer is a summary of the key freedoms and obligations of the license, written in a format that software systems, search engines, and other technologies can understand. This layer allows CC-licensed works to be easily discovered online via search engines such as Google, maximising the distribution, reuse, and impact of the licensed works.
The machine-readable code can be obtained using the CC license chooser tool, which automatically generates the HTML syntax. This syntax can be copied and embedded into web pages and, while not visible to human users, can be read by search engines. This feature is what makes CC licenses "machine-readable".
The machine-readable code includes software code that allows search engines and other applications to identify CC-licensed materials on the internet. This code is included in the license information about the work, enabling easy discovery of CC-licensed content by users.
The machine-readable feature of CC licenses is an important aspect of their design, facilitating the distribution and reuse of licensed works by making them easily discoverable online. This feature ensures that CC-licensed works can reach a wider audience and be utilised effectively by users seeking content with specific permissions.
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Frequently asked questions
Creative Commons is not a law firm and is not part of copyright law. It is a non-profit organization that provides free licences that copyright holders can use to give the public permission to use their work under certain conditions.
There are six types of Creative Commons licences, each with different conditions. All licences require attribution, and some allow for commercial use.
Think about why you want to share your work and how you hope others will use it. Then, choose the licence that best suits your needs.
Yes, you can change your licence at any time. However, anyone who received your work under the original licence may continue to use it under those terms for as long as the material is protected by copyright.
No, Creative Commons is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. However, they can connect you with copyright lawyers in your jurisdiction.
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